Light emitting diode (LED) based lighting systems may offer several energy and reliability advantages over other types of lighting systems such as, for example, incandescent or fluorescent lighting. Thus, LED based lighting systems are increasingly being used to replace other existing lighting technologies. An LED based light bulb mechanism may require contact engagement in order to transfer electrical current from a supply voltage to a driver board which provides current to the LEDs. Conventional LED based light bulbs typically utilize wires or precision formed mechanical contacts to transfer the supply or line voltage to the driver board.
The wires used to transfer current from the supply to the driver board are flexible. Since the wires are flexible, it may be challenging to align the wires during production using an automated assembly process. This is because flexible wires are difficult, if not impossible, to position the wires at a point of assembly in repetitive alignment. Accordingly, such wires are usually positioned and affixed manually by an operator during assembly. Using an operator to assemble the wiring with the light bulb is usually time consuming.
Alternatively, line voltage may be transferred to the driver board using mechanical contacts which are capable of being assembled to the screw shell by an automated process. However, such mechanical contacts contain several precision formed components, which are typically expensive and therefore add cost to the light bulb.